GLOUCESTER So may it be, indeed:Methinks thy voice is alter'd; and thou speak'stIn better phrase and matter than thou didst.

EDGAR You're much deceived: in nothing am I changedBut in my garments.

GLOUCESTER Methinks you're better spoken.

EDGAR Come on, sir; here's the place: stand still. How fearfulAnd dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low!The crows and choughs that wing the midway airShow scarce so gross as beetles: half way downHangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade!Methinks he seems no bigger than his head:The fishermen, that walk upon the beach,Appear like mice; and yond tall anchoring bark,Diminish'd to her cock; her cock, a buoyAlmost too small for sight: the murmuring surge,That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes,Cannot be heard so high. I'll look no more;Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sightTopple down headlong.

GLOUCESTER Set me where you stand.

EDGAR Give me your hand: you are now within a footOf the extreme verge: for all beneath the moonWould I not leap upright.

GLOUCESTER [Kneeling] O you mighty gods!This world I do renounce, and, in your sights,Shake patiently my great affliction off:If I could bear it longer, and not fallTo quarrel with your great opposeless wills,My snuff and loathed part of nature shouldBurn itself out. If Edgar live, O, bless him!Now, fellow, fare thee well.

He falls forward

EDGAR Gone, sir: farewell.And yet I know not how conceit may robThe treasury of life, when life itselfYields to the theft: had he been where he thought,By this, had thought been past. Alive or dead?Ho, you sir! friend! Hear you, sir! speak!Thus might he pass indeed: yet he revives.What are you, sir?

EDGAR This is above all strangeness.Upon the crown o' the cliff, what thing was thatWhich parted from you?

GLOUCESTER A poor unfortunate beggar.

EDGAR As I stood here below, methought his eyesWere two full moons; he had a thousand noses,Horns whelk'd and waved like the enridged sea:It was some fiend; therefore, thou happy father,Think that the clearest gods, who make them honoursOf men's impossibilities, have preserved thee.

GLOUCESTER I do remember now: henceforth I'll bearAffliction till it do cry out itself'Enough, enough,' and die. That thing you speak of,I took it for a man; often 'twould say'The fiend, the fiend:' he led me to that place.

EDGAR Bear free and patient thoughts. But who comes here?

Enter KING LEAR, fantastically dressed with wild flowers

The safer sense will ne'er accommodateHis master thus.

KING LEAR No, they cannot touch me for coining; I am theking himself.

EDGAR O thou side-piercing sight!

KING LEAR Nature's above art in that respect. There's yourpress-money. That fellow handles his bow like acrow-keeper: draw me a clothier's yard. Look,look, a mouse! Peace, peace; this piece of toastedcheese will do 't. There's my gauntlet; I'll proveit on a giant. Bring up the brown bills. O, wellflown, bird! i' the clout, i' the clout: hewgh!Give the word.

EDGAR Sweet marjoram.

KING LEAR Pass.

GLOUCESTER I know that voice.

KING LEAR Ha! Goneril, with a white beard! They flatteredme like a dog; and told me I had white hairs in mybeard ere the black ones were there. To say 'ay'and 'no' to every thing that I said!--'Ay' and 'no'too was no good divinity. When the rain came towet me once, and the wind to make me chatter; whenthe thunder would not peace at my bidding; there Ifound 'em, there I smelt 'em out. Go to, they arenot men o' their words: they told me I was everything; 'tis a lie, I am not ague-proof.

GLOUCESTER The trick of that voice I do well remember:Is 't not the king?

KING LEAR Ay, every inch a king:When I do stare, see how the subject quakes.I pardon that man's life. What was thy cause? Adultery?Thou shalt not die: die for adultery! No:The wren goes to 't, and the small gilded flyDoes lecher in my sight.Let copulation thrive; for Gloucester's bastard sonWas kinder to his father than my daughtersGot 'tween the lawful sheets.To 't, luxury, pell-mell! for I lack soldiers.Behold yond simpering dame,Whose face between her forks presages snow;That minces virtue, and does shake the headTo hear of pleasure's name;The fitchew, nor the soiled horse, goes to 'tWith a more riotous appetite.Down from the waist they are Centaurs,Though women all above:But to the girdle do the gods inherit,Beneath is all the fiends';There's hell, there's darkness, there's thesulphurous pit,Burning, scalding, stench, consumption; fie,fie, fie! pah, pah! Give me an ounce of civet,good apothecary, to sweeten my imagination:there's money for thee.

GLOUCESTER O, let me kiss that hand!

KING LEAR Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality.

GLOUCESTER O ruin'd piece of nature! This great worldShall so wear out to nought. Dost thou know me?

EDGAR I would not take this from report; it is,And my heart breaks at it.

KING LEAR Read.

GLOUCESTER What, with the case of eyes?

KING LEAR O, ho, are you there with me? No eyes in yourhead, nor no money in your purse? Your eyes are ina heavy case, your purse in a light; yet you see howthis world goes.

GLOUCESTER I see it feelingly.

KING LEAR What, art mad? A man may see how this world goeswith no eyes. Look with thine ears: see how yondjustice rails upon yond simple thief. Hark, inthine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, whichis the justice, which is the thief? Thou hast seena farmer's dog bark at a beggar?

GLOUCESTER Ay, sir.

KING LEAR And the creature run from the cur? There thoumightst behold the great image of authority: adog's obeyed in office.Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand!Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own back;Thou hotly lust'st to use her in that kindFor which thou whipp'st her. The usurer hangs the cozener.Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear;Robes and furr'd gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold,And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks:Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it.None does offend, none, I say, none; I'll able 'em:Take that of me, my friend, who have the powerTo seal the accuser's lips. Get thee glass eyes;And like a scurvy politician, seemTo see the things thou dost not. Now, now, now, now:Pull off my boots: harder, harder: so.

EDGAR O, matter and impertinency mix'd! Reason in madness!

KING LEAR If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes.I know thee well enough; thy name is Gloucester:Thou must be patient; we came crying hither:Thou know'st, the first time that we smell the air,We wawl and cry. I will preach to thee: mark.

GLOUCESTER Alack, alack the day!

KING LEAR When we are born, we cry that we are comeTo this great stage of fools: this a good block;It were a delicate stratagem, to shoeA troop of horse with felt: I'll put 't in proof;And when I have stol'n upon these sons-in-law,Then, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!

EDGAR I know thee well: a serviceable villain;As duteous to the vices of thy mistressAs badness would desire.

GLOUCESTER What, is he dead?

EDGAR Sit you down, father; rest youLet's see these pockets: the letters that he speaks ofMay be my friends. He's dead; I am only sorryHe had no other death's-man. Let us see:Leave, gentle wax; and, manners, blame us not:To know our enemies' minds, we'ld rip their hearts;Their papers, is more lawful.

Reads

'Let our reciprocal vows be remembered. You havemany opportunities to cut him off: if your willwant not, time and place will be fruitfully offered.There is nothing done, if he return the conqueror:then am I the prisoner, and his bed my goal; fromthe loathed warmth whereof deliver me, and supplythe place for your labour.'Your--wife, so I would say--'Affectionate servant,'GONERIL.'O undistinguish'd space of woman's will!A plot upon her virtuous husband's life;And the exchange my brother! Here, in the sands,Thee I'll rake up, the post unsanctifiedOf murderous lechers: and in the mature timeWith this ungracious paper strike the sightOf the death practised duke: for him 'tis wellThat of thy death and business I can tell.

GLOUCESTER The king is mad: how stiff is my vile sense,That I stand up, and have ingenious feelingOf my huge sorrows! Better I were distract:So should my thoughts be sever'd from my griefs,And woes by wrong imaginations loseThe knowledge of themselves.

EDGAR Give me your hand:

Drum afar off

Far off, methinks, I hear the beaten drum:Come, father, I'll bestow you with a friend.